Mai Thai

After church today Brian and I decided on Thai food for lunch. We had passed a couple of Thai restaurants yesterday when we were out running errands and I suspect that is what inspired our decision. We went to Mai Thai in Evans.

We started with chicken satay which are skewered pieces of chicken that are grilled and served with a spicy peanut sauce and tangy tamarind cucumber sauce. This version we found slightly lacking. The actual chicken was tasty with a hint of smoky curry flavor, but the peanut sauce (which is usually the best part) was downright bland. The cucumber/ carrot/ onion salad in the tamarind sauce was lovely; light and pallet cleansing.

For the main course I ordered pad thai, a common noodle dish that is one of my all-time favorite Thai dishes. The first thing I noticed as the plate was set before me was the pink hue of everything. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, especially in pad thai. It is true that you eat with your eyes first and the color may have ruined the dish for me overall. Plus there was none of the complexity that you normally find in pad thai; there were obviously different components within the dish—noodles, shrimp, egg, scallions, bean sprouts—but the flavors melded together in a most unusual way. The menu description listed peanuts as one of the ingredients but I did not see or taste any.

Brian ordered the Gai Pad Med Ma-Muang Him Ma Parn which is a very long name for stir fried chicken, cashews, onions, mushrooms, carrots, scallions, and peppers in a savory broth. It was an absolutely delicious dish and healthy to boot considering all the veggies and method of cooking. Steamed white rice accompanied our meal.

We wouldn’t normally order dessert with lunch but were intrigued by what we saw on the menu. We got the sweet sticky rice and custard dish as well as the Thai coconut pudding. We had never had either before so had nothing to hold it up against—which isn’t always a bad thing. Both were delicious but the sweet sticky rice and custard was our hands-down favorite. It reminded me of the Filipino rice dessert that we called boot boot back home in Hawaii (there may be another more traditional Filipino name for it but I'm not sure what it is). The custard was not “pretty” but that didn’t matter as soon as you got a spoonful in your mouth. It’s silky smoothness perfectly complemented the warm/sweet rice layer. The coconut pudding dish was a cold, gelatin-like dessert bursting with coconut flavor and included, of all things, sweet corn kernels. Yes it was different but the two actually went together very well. The white “cream” topping was a bit undecipherable, though I think I detected a hint of coconut cream flavor. The desserts saved the meal for me.

It’s a quiet little hole in the wall restaurant with simple Thai decorations/pictures adorning the walls and soft asian/classical music playing in the background. Prices are moderate—there is a lunch menu but I guess it is only for Mon-Fri as we did not get the lunch prices today. Our waitress was attentive though she frowned when she saw so much left over pad thai.

My rating: 3.75 out of 5

Mai Thai
Evans Towne Center
4272 Washington Road
706-210-9008